Posts tagged “early human”

Posted on June 26th, 2012

A few years ago, I had the thrill of meeting Lonesome George, the last known Pinta Island giant tortoise. Goats were introduced to his island home in the Galapagos in 1958. They obliterated all of the vegetation on the island, and by the time he was discovered in 1972, all of the other tortoises of Lonesome George’s subspecies — those that hadn’t already been eaten by whalers and Galapagos settlers — had starved to death. For his safety, George was moved to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos. Forty years later, on June 24, 2012, Lonesome George was found dead in his pen. Goats browse a very wide variety of plants, preferring the tips of woody shrubs and trees. Feral goats…

Posted on May 12th, 2012

We have all heard how tame the animals of the Galapagos are: tourists can walk right up to a Booby or Iguana or Hawk, and they do not flee. More extreme is St. Mark’s Square in Italy, famous for its pigeons landing on the heads and shoulders and hands of tourists. Your nearest city park may have its own phenomena, with squirrels eating out of someone’s hand. If you yearn to get closer to wildlife, it is a thrill to find animals that don’t flee when we approach, or that approach us. A thrill, and very surprising. How can this be, when wildlife is usually so much more wild? I’ve asked tour guides, naturalists, photographers, park rangers, and armchair naturalists about this, but always…

Posted on April 13th, 2012

Lawns have become part of our world, and surround every house in our suburbs. Even apartment buildings in the city may have a few square feet of lawn in front. Some think our love of lawns might be traceable to our descent from early humans, who learned to walk upright in the savannah plains of Africa. Standing upright was a convenient means of seeing over the grasses, and spotting approaching predators. It also allowed for tracking prey. Having a lawn makes great sense if you are expecting raids from the neighbors – as early man had to expect. But today, when neighborhood raiders are soon locked up, grassy yards seem to be vestigial, like an appendix: serving no purpose, providing no benefit. Of course,…